Professor Simona Paravani, a Fellow of Murray Edwards College, has been honoured with a prestigious national award by the Italian Parliament.
The ‘Italian Excellence Abroad’ award is given by the parliament to Italian citizens who have distinguished themselves in their career and life journey. The honour recognised Simona’s career and philanthropic work in relation to education, financial literacy and inclusion.
She was presented with the award by the Vice-Chair of the House of Representatives.
As the first member of her family to enter higher education thanks to scholarships, Simona, an alumna of Murray Edwards, has no doubt about the value of education and the importance of financial support to provide educational opportunities. Her commitment is reflected in her support for educational charities and scholarship programmes, including an exciting forthcoming initiative at Murray Edwards (watch this space!).
‘My experience gave me a deeply personal understanding of the power of education to improve lives, and it is a privilege and honour to help young talent fulfil their dreams through education,’ Simona says.
After graduation, Simona's career saw her take on roles in the financial industry in London, Zurich, Hong Kong, and New York. She is now the Global CIO of Solutions within the Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions group at BlackRock.
She combines her work with a post as an Assistant Teaching Professor at Cambridge’s Faculty of Economics, where she teaches a graduate level course in AI applied to Finance.
Simona is a board member of Mybnk, a UK charity focused on financial education. She authored The Kids’ Pocket Guide to the World (2015), which explains complex themes linked to economics and globalisation for young readers, and is also a co-author of the Italian language award-winning children's book What's money for?.
In 2022 she was awarded the prestigious title of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for her commitment to promoting inclusion and social mobility through education and financial literacy, and was named Role Model of the Year and Investment Woman of the Year by Investment Week’s Women in Investing Awards.